"We had a better start to an even contest for the first 20 minutes and significantly fought back to tie up a 2 goal deficit, with goals by Sarah Dawson and Caroline Nichols," said Women's National Team Head Coach Lee Bodimeade. "We continue to look for improvement in key areas and are looking to finish off the tour with a strong performance in the final game of the series."

The team had a surprise visit by the U.S. Ambassador to Argentina, Earl Zachary. He and Lee proudly presented Lauren Powley with flowers before the game signifying her 100 international cap.

BLOG - Monday, April 27

Yesterday was a rest day for the USA, so we went to check out the sights of Salta! We had an open air tour bus take us on a driving tour of the city. There is a catherdral here, as well as the museum, that hosts three different mummies that were found in the mountains outside of Salta. We didn’t go inside, but it looked interesting. To culminate our tour around the city we took a cable car up the mountain to look down over Salta. The cable car had been given to the city by Switzerland. From the top of the mountain we could see the hockey pitch, as well as a large football (soccer) stadium. The people here are very proud of their city and and are very happy to share stories and insight with us.

Last night we went to an authentic Argentinean restaurant, and for those that don’t know the Argies love meat! To start the meal we had empanada's which are a staple here and a definite team favorite! After four courses of meat the entertainment started....we got quite the show, which also included some dancing from and drum playing from our very own Katie Evans (Kev) and Sarah Dawson (Princess). Check out the pictures:)

Today game four with the Argies and Lauren Powley’s 100 cap! More details to follow....

BLOG - Saturday, April 25

We arrived after a long trip...about 30 hours of travel...to Salta, Argentina. We had a ten hour layover in Buenos Aires, where we enjoyed the day at a local sport club. We were able to shower and had access to the internet, so that made everyone happy! The club served us a traditional Argentinean meal of barbecued meat. One plate after another, it would come out until everyone had their protein fill. They also had grilled veggies which quickly became the group favorite.

Around 7:00 pm we got on a flight to Salta, about 1800 km North of Buenos Aires. Once we arrived here officials from the city of Salta greeted us at the airport. The Argentineans love hockey and since Salta is a smaller city, they are very excited to host the USA and Las Leonas (Argentinean Women’s National Team).

The pitch is at an old police station, which was renovated into a sport club. The turf is very bouncing, which kinda slows the ball down, in Chula Vista we are used to an extremely flat, hard, fast pitch.

Overall the trip is going well, the hotel is very nice. Currently we haven’t had internet for almost two days, that is tough! There is a heated pool here for recovery and all of the people around are very nice and accommodating.

Stay tuned for our next update...

BLOG - Friday, April 24

As we are preparing for our practice on Friday afternoon, Claire Laubach ("Chewie") was approached by a little Argentine girl and her Papa for some help. Chewie sat down next to her and started to read what the little girl was trying to figure out. Basically, it was a fill-in-the-blank paragraph but with no bank of words. Chewie decided to make a little world bank for the little girl. The two of them were reading and using hand signals to try and understand each other. Bert (Caroline Blaum) and Heba (Heather Schnepf) came out a little later and tried to help, but mostly just watched Chewie help this little girl. Bert, who does not go anywhere without her phone, used the video camera in the phone to film the session for all to see. Heba just sat back and watched the little girl smile at Chewie as she was trying to understand what was going on. Thankfully, the little girl's Papa was there to help interpret as best he could. Who knows if the little girl even understood? But Papa was very grateful and the little girl left with a great big smile! I think the three of us witnessed why teaching is not our jobs or even our majors in college.

Game 2 came and went and although we did not get the result we wanted this US team is making strides. After each game a mug is given to essentially the game MVP. First game it was given to Amy Tran who kept us in the game with brilliant saves. Chewie won the mug for game 2 with some fantastic work at the halfback position as well as making one of the Argentinean players go up and over her shoulder with a solid block tackle! Way to let them know what the USA stands for! Game 3 will be a quick turnaround but you can be sure this USA squad is going to bring it!

GAME TWO - Saturday, April 25

The USA Women's National Team fell to Argentina, 4-2, in the second match of a five-game test series in Salta, Argentina. Las Leonas jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead in the first 18 minutes, but as the game preogressed, the USA regrouped to score two goals from Sara Silvetti and Jesse Gey. Argentina's goalkeeper denied a Tiffany Huisman penalty stroke in the final minutes.

BLOG - Friday, April 24

Hi Everybody - this is Carrie Lingo reporting from Salta, Argentina!

We arrived in Salta earlier in the week just shy under 33 hours. It was a monster of a trip, but everybody held up well. Salta is located in the Northwest corner of Argentina about a mile above sea level. So far the weather has been fine, people nice and food "A" OK. Lots of steak. We had our first match with the Argies on Thursday night and lost 3 -1. Working out the kinks and strategizing with the new rules. Amy was outstanding in the net. A big game for Lauren Pfeiffer representing the US with her first cap and Ms. Tiffany Snow #10 took the field wearing her new jersey, Huisman #10! (Tiff was married on March 29th) We are looking forward to Saturdays match. In the meantime doing the usual . . . recover, refuel, relax. All the girls send along a big hello and thanks for following, in addition, we apologize for any delay in response to emails, the internet has been a bit wishy washy.